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Television Entertainment Technology

United Airlines Adding 4K OLED TVs For In-Flight Entertainment (androidheadlines.com) 57

Posted by BeauHD from the pixels-instead-of-legroom dept.
United Airlines is set to introduce the next-generation Astrove in-flight entertainment system, featuring Panasonic's 4K OLED TVs, with larger screens and thinner bezels than current models. The system also offers Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, allowing passengers to use their own wireless headphones, and includes two 67W USB-C chargers for charging mobile devices. However, these new entertainment systems will only be available on United's new Airbus A321XLRs and Boeing 787s starting in 2025. Android Headlines reports: The new Astrova System does also have two 67W USB-C chargers available on the bottom-left edge. This means you can use it to charge your phone as well as your laptop or tablet at the same time. So that when you land, you have fully juiced devices. This is all being done to create a "premium home theater environment."
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United Airlines Adding 4K OLED TVs For In-Flight Entertainment More

United Airlines Adding 4K OLED TVs For In-Flight Entertainment

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  • Great! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Joce640k ( 829181 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @07:56PM (#63584772) Homepage

    I was about to boycott UA over the thickness of their screen bezels but thanks to some clued-in management it looks like I can continue flying with them.

  • I expect... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by sinij ( 911942 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @07:57PM (#63584776)
    ... continuous ads on a loop without a way to shut the screen off.

    • Re:I expect... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @08:22PM (#63584810)
      So the USB charging cords are actually a bigger deal. Now you can game your way from New York to New Zealand and pretty much the last justification for long laptop battery life is dead.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        What about charge-jacking though? To get 65W from a USB C port it needs to communicate with the device. There is a side channel specially for negotiating the right charging voltage, and while I don't know of any attacks against it that doesn't mean it's invulnerable.

        I prefer to bring my own charger and plug it into a mains outlet in the seat. As well as being safer, the socket being in the seat means that the charging lead doesn't go from your lap to the seat in front, and your neighbour can pass by without

        • Are there charging devices that take a USB-C input and can proxy the power negotiation with the device that it is feeding power to? Seems like that might be a good solution for this problem.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            The issue is that if it's a true proxy that tries to sanitize the data, it might miss some potential exploit. I suppose you could make it pretty much bullet proof by having two microcontrollers that communicate using an extremely simple method like a set of GPIO lines acting as "feature jumpers" for voltage and current combinations available.

            If it's not a true proxy and just delivers a fixed voltage, then sure you can buy boards to do that on AliExpress or eBay for a few bucks. I used one to replace a broke

      • ... means your boss can demand that you work on that key TPMS report he's looking for while traveling.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      I have seen that United is promoting Bluetooth headphones this is a benefit as it costs to give away even cheap cord headphones.

      But yes, this will at least be partially funded from ads. These ads appeared to be mostly supported by destinations and entertainment but the can be intrusive if it is hard to turn off. Like if the controls are on the armrest.

      • The controls are on screen. And you can turn the screen off as soon as you sit down and it stays off until the pilot shuts down the engines (then they reset themselves to the welcome screens)

        FWIW I flew a 787 that United was trialing these new panels on. It was very nice, on a night flight with half the plane asleep and the electrochromic window shades, the cabin was very dark. I would not connect my Bluetooth device to their system tho, I would recommend some sort of device condom.

    • They'll take a page from black mirror. You'll be able to turn off the ad screens, but that's a $50/flight upgrade!

    • Maybe they'll throw in some guitar snuff porn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Breaks_Guitars) - for "flight entertainment".

  • they have an local server that can feed 4k to 200 or more users at the same time?

    • Re:they have an local server that can feed 4k to 2 (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Sitnalta ( 1051230 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @08:59PM (#63584864)

      Yes. These jets have entire computer rooms below the flight deck. It's not Plex running on an old gaming computer, it's an entire streaming service in miniature.

      • Hey, plex runs great on old hardware! For instance, micro-atx from 10 years ago with 6 drive spinning raid serves up 15x 1080p h264 streams simultaneously. I don't know about 4k, because who gives a flying (!) flip about 4k on a screen that's 4 inches from your face in coach? But the biggest gripe with this move is that they don't mention upgrading the satellite bandwidth. It's pitifully small and does not scale up on the larger planes (similar bandwidth no matter the model or seat configuration). At most

      • It depends on the aircraft type, the 787s have a large electronics bay for IFE. The same for later models of the 777. Earlier 777 models you had maybe 6u of 22" rack space for IFE. That usually equated to a large VHS tape deck.

  • Starting in 2025 (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @08:10PM (#63584784) Homepage Journal

    Anybody who needs a "home theater" on an airplane in 2025 and beyond will bring a headset.

    The rest of us need a pair of earplugs and an eyemask. The experience is best passed unconscious.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Anybody who needs a "home theater" on an airplane in 2025 and beyond will bring a headset.

      The rest of us need a pair of earplugs and an eyemask. The experience is best passed unconscious.

      If I had mod points...+1

    • No, only the people in first class who have the disposable income to spend $3500 on an iToyFacePro will do that.

      Actually one of the best flight experiences I've seen / had was on a cheap local TAP flight. They offered tablet clips on the back of each seat as well as USB chargers. The guy next to me clipped his phone in. I my Surface Pro, and I'm guessing an iPad Pro would also fit. This was great.

      Even when I fly business / first I don't rely on the airline having a compelling movie selection to get me throu

      • I flew American round trip recently and they had clips for your device and both USB and regular plug outlets. There was in flight entertainment over wifi, but I put my Switch up there and disconnected my joycons to hold separately and connected my Bluetooth headphones to it. Was much more enjoyable than just handheld. If this was standard I'd probably bring a pro controller. I also used it to put my phone in and watch my Hulu downloads for a while. I know it's probably just the airlines being cheap but

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Decent noise cancelling headphones would be the best upgrade they could offer. At the moment I have to bring my own, and I only use them on the plane.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by sijo ( 594739 )
      I'm lucky if I get two hours of sleep on a 12 hour flight, and I don't fly long haul often enough to justify paying extra for a laptop with 10 hours of battery life. So I welcome anything that distracts me from the misery that is flying

  • Don't most people bring their own entertainment devices on flights these days? Granted, the last trip I took was on an airline that was so "budget", I half expected people to bring their livestock with them, so I'm probably not within the target demographic for airlines with 4K monitors at each seat.

    The next time I fly cattle class, I'll probably bring my Yoga 6 with me. If I'm lucky, it might actually fit between my lap and the seat in front of me, but I have my doubts.

  • And how is United paying for the new tv's? By cutting the seat-pitch by another inch and a half, to squeeze one more row of seats into the cabin of course.

    The fine article has a pic of a laptop sitting flat on the seat-back tray, on the last flight I took there was *no* chance of this happening: I took out my macbook and it simply wouldn't fit between me and the seat-back in front of me without the laptop base being tilted up to about 40 degrees. What a miserable flight.

  • VR goggles with headphones? (Score:3)

    by khchung ( 462899 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @10:33PM (#63584968) Journal

    Maybe in-flight entertainment could be a useful use case for VR goggles?

    It is one of the few situations where people would want to block out everything and focus on something else, even if it may be just some soothing video and sounds to put you to sleep.

    • This. Given that the cost of the Apple headset is at or below the price of a long haul flight in business, Iâ(TM)d shell out 3.5k for the privilege of never having endured the sensory experience of economy again. Possibly the only truly strong use case imo.

  • Assuming, of course, that you aren't beaten up and dragged off the plane.

  • Y 4K? (Score:3)

    by antdude ( 79039 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @11:46PM (#63585026) Homepage Journal

    On a tiny screen. What's the point? How about Apple Vision Pro? /s

    • Probably because they were available in bulk, and the number sounds good for marketing.

      Or they are planning on reducing the spacing between seats to 15". At some point they'll need lenses on the screens to help people focus on something pressed so close in their face at which point 4K may even be of benefit :-)

    • The answer is right in the article, thin bezels, man!

    • [4k] On a tiny screen. What's the point?

      never noticed your phone's resolution?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by antdude ( 79039 )

        I can't tell the differences with 4K and previous resolutions. Same with (laptop/notebook)s. It makes sense with big screens, but these aren't big screens.

  • imho leg space is much more needed
  • ... they'll add this video [youtube.com] to the in-flight entertainment selection

  • Flying in the 80's and 90's (Score:3)

    by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Thursday June 08, 2023 @07:50AM (#63585536)

    What happened to flying? I regularly took long flights around the world in the 80's and 90's. The flights were inexpensive, coach was actually quite comfortable, and flight attendants were always busy serving meals, refilling drinks, and bringing you hot cloths and pillows. The last time I flew on a plane (2011) it was cramped to the point of claustrophobia, flights were expensive, the TSA fondled me, and good luck getting service from flight attendants. Bring back the service and stop trying to improve the image with gimmicks.

    • People pick their flights online and usually click the cheapest one.

      • People pick their flights online and usually click the cheapest one.

        True. But the airline industry as a whole has made a conscious decision to ONLY compete on price. JetBlue tried to compete on a better product, with some significant success. (The few times I've flown JetBlue have been pretty good, and when all other things are equal, they would be my preferred domestic airline.) The big legacy carriers have the ability to distinguish themselves by better service, but generally go the other way, to scrape every last dollar from the customer they lure in with 'lowest fare

      • True. You can even upgrade away the TSA fondlong somewhat. (With TSA precheck or whatever they're calling it.) Think about that for a moment. "We won't molest you if you pay more." Now think about someone who takes a job like that, no matter how official/important/clean they make the worker feel, lol.

    • The US used to have a comprehensive passenger rail network. Every city and even every small town used to be connected by rail. This set a floor on how (in)hospitable air travel could get. Trains are slower over long routes, but good passenger trains have space to move, no seatbelts, and sometimes even bars, so who cares.

      Since the US completely dismantled its passenger rail system, the airlines have no competition. You are going to fly, even between Dallas and Houston, even between Detroit and Chicago, and t

    • The way we piss off people like you have fond positive memories when things were better/cheaper/faster is to say: ok boomer. :-)

  • Early Panasonic/B777 systems (Score:3)

    by david.emery ( 127135 ) on Thursday June 08, 2023 @09:06AM (#63585678)

    In the mid 90s, I remember being on a UAL B777 (a relatively new aircraft.) I had just (accidentally) crashed the in-seat Panasonic entertainment system, and was watching the Unix/Linux boot sequence on the display. Looking around, I could see several other in-seat systems in various states of reboot. Apparently there were several bugs handling the in-seat remote's keys. One thing struck me "Why would any competent system integrator let this be visible to the -end user-?"

    A Boeing friend told me they treated in-seat at DO-178B Level C because of the 'customer experience', but it was sure clear to me Panasonic was not meeting that level of product assurance.

    But it's been A Long Time since I've been able to -crash- the in-seat system (not that I sit there and try to do that...) And even when I've seen a system reboot, at least it hasn't shown me the console boot sequence. So there has been progress for entertainment system reliability...

    Another comment: Lufthansa has changed its in-seat "flight progress" display in the last year on A330s. I find the new version to be less informative than before. In particular, I miss the aircraft ground speed and wind indicators. (I really liked the previous system's 'pilot HUD' presentation.) But I like the idea of using my Bluetooth headphones with the in-flight system. Occasionally there's a movie or a music offering that interests me. (Emphasis on 'occasionally', mostly I listen to my own music and read an ebook.)

  • The two 67W USB-C outlets are a great addition. However, we need broader availability on all airplanes of AC outlets that will handle more than 75W. Most airline AC outlets will trip a circuit breaker above 75W. You cannot plug a 100W USB-C charger with multiple USB-C ports into the AC outlet and charge your laptop and cell phone at the same time. United's addition of two 67W USB-C ports will help with that on those planes. But what about the rest of the fleet? AC outlets need to be upgraded so that we can

  • Human eyes don't see in 4k, so a 4k screen just produces fake-as-fuck, cartoonish imagery.

  • Will they be larger than the 10" screen over the lap of the seat ahead of you, and how will they deal with sunlight coming in the windows?

  • How much did it cost? (Score:3)

    by OfMiceAndMenus ( 4553885 ) on Thursday June 08, 2023 @11:28AM (#63585982)
    Is this the same "desperate" airline that needed $5bn in bailout money they haven't repaid despite firing employees the money was to keep on the payroll?

    What a good, solid investment, instead of spending these millions on fleet maintenance, expanding flight schedules to fill demand and avoid cancellations, and improving traveler experience or hiring back some of your lost staff...
  • 4k seems really pointless on screens that small.

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